Unfulfilled Promise
by Fwirl
Summary: He wasn't supposed to die; he wasn't supposed to just leave without a single goodbye and leave them behind.


**So I wrote this oneshot type thing for two reasons: One, I'm currently obsessed with Tsubasa and I wanted to write a story for it; and two, my competitive spirit has taken over and I don't want Shadow to have written more fics than me. D8**

**It's basically just a flashback for Syaoran and Sakura, a cute and depressing scene that I daydreamed about when I was supposed to be paying attention in class. :P**

**Enjoy~**

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~Clow Country

"Princess, be careful!" Syaoran called above him to where Sakura was running up a set of crumbling stairs to the top of an old, dilapidated building.

"I told you, call me Sakura!" she retorted, turning back only long enough to stick her tongue out at him before continuing up.

Sighing, Syaoran started up after her, his boots thumping loudly against the stone stairs. "What do you want up here, anyways?" he asked when he had finally caught up to her.

Sakura only grinned at him, her perfect white teeth flashing in the darkness of the night. Though she was only eleven, she was leaving the castle more and more often by herself to come see Syaoran, something he disapproved of aloud even though he liked seeing her alone more than when she had an escort with her. But of course, he could never tell her that.

"We're here!" Sakura announced triumphantly, taking Syaoran by the wrist and leading him to the edge of the roof. "Isn't it beautiful?"

And so it was. The stars were scattered across the sky in a milky film, lighting up the entire city in a dim light. The city itself stretched out below them from this three-story high view, the buildings clumping together and spread out in inexplicable patterns. In a word, it was extraordinary.

"Wow," Syaoran breathed. "How did you know this was here?"

"I've been up here before," Sakura explained, sitting down and pulling Syaoran with her. "With my father; he showed me this place. Oh, that's right; your dad is coming home tomorrow from the archeological dig, right?"

"Yeah," Syaoran answered happily, letting his legs hang over the edge of the roof. "I haven't seen him in awhile, so I can't wait until he gets back and tells me about it. He said I couldn't come because I was sick when he left." Syaoran frowned disappointedly.

"Well, at least you got to spend the week with me," Sakura reminded him cheerfully. "I had a lot of fun; didn't you?"

"Of course!" Syaoran assured her.

"Ever since you started working at the site, you haven't been around much," Sakura pouted, crossing her arms. "We don't get to play as often as we used to."

"But you still come over and we have fun," Syaoran told her. "It isn't like we _never _see each other."

"I guess," Sakura sighed, throwing her head back to look at the sky.

They sat in peaceful silence for awhile, admiring the stars and view below them. Sakura leaned lightly into Syaoran, and he stiffened. "Is this okay?" Sakura asked sleepily.

"Yeah, it's fine," Syaoran replied, glad that the darkness hid his blushing face.

"Okay," Sakura mumbled, closing her eyes. After a moment, Syaoran could tell she was asleep.

"Good night, Princess," he murmured, brushing her hair off of her face.

---

"Syaoooooran!" Sakura called cheerfully, knocking on the door to his house, but only silence greeted her. She knocked again, more loudly this time. "Are you in there?"

She waited a moment longer before deciding he wasn't home. "He knew I'd be coming over to see him and his dad," Sakura grumbled, kicking a small rock down the street. "How could he not have been there?"

Making her way through the crowded streets, Sakura spotted something odd on her way back home; something she didn't pay much mind to at first, but then later remembered as something important.

There was a small group of people standing outside of a shop; people that Sakura recognized from Syaoran's dad's archeological dig team. They all wore black despite the heat and spoke in low voices, conferring about something with saddened eyes and slumped shoulders.

Sneaking into the castle so that her brother wouldn't know she had been out, Sakura avoided the main gate and instead slipped into one of the lower room windows and tip-toed through the halls to the king's conference room. When she reached the double doors that led to it, she raised her hand to knock, but paused when she heard the soft murmur of voices within. _Touya must be seeing someone_, Sakura thought, pressing her ear against the door to hear more clearly what they were saying.

"…I'm sorry for your loss." Sakura recognized this as her brother's voice, and was surprised to hear so much sympathy in his voice.

"It wasn't anyone's fault." This voice was quieter, more subdued, so that Sakura could barely recognize that it belonged to Syaoran. _What's going on to make him sound so sad?_ she wondered desperately.

"It was an unfortunate accident that the tunnel caved in when it did," Touya continued. "Your father was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Sakura felt an icy chill crawl up her spine as she realized just what she was eavesdropping on. "However…the dig must go on. Too much effort has been put into this to let it all go to waste."

"I know," Syaoran agreed. "Father would want the dig to continue."

"Sakura, you can come in now," Touya called, raising his voice.

Sakura hesitantly pushed open one of the doors and peered inside. Her brother was sitting at one end of a table, Syaoran directly across from him. He turned when Sakura entered, his eyes wide with surprise. She could tell he wanted to ask her what she had been doing, but of course he wouldn't ask. That was just how he was. And for just this once, Sakura didn't mind.

"Syaoran, did your father…" Sakura started, but just couldn't say it, couldn't get that last word out. _Die._ She remembered just two weeks ago when Syaoran's father had retold a story to them about another country.

"_That's when the king declared that buying tea from the next country over was illegal and would be severely punished," he continued._

"_What?" Sakura exclaimed. "You're kidding!"_

"_Not at all," Syaoran's father laughed. _

"_But why would he do that?" Syaoran asked, a frown on his face as he thought about his question._

"_He was jealous of the country's wealth from the money they made in the tea market," his father explained. "So he tried to lessen it by stopping his business with them."_

"_But doesn't that hurt the king's economy too?" Sakura asked, thinking of all the meetings she had sat through with her brother, discussing the good of the country._

"_It did," the archeologist agreed. "That's why the people rebelled against him and made him change this policy."_

"_That sounds like a lot of work for something so petty as being jealous," Syaoran commented thoughtfully. _

"_I think it was the king's dream to have his country become the greatest," Syaoran's father mused. "To make your dream come true, you have to take risks. Though sometimes, you have to decide what's worth risking and what's not."_

"_What's your dream?" Sakura inquired curiously._

"_I want to dig up the ruins of Clow Country," he answered, smiling. "To be able to see something that no one has in who knows how long is amazing, don't you think, Syaoran?"_

"_Yes," Syaoran agreed readily. "It's so fascinating to see the ruins; you should come with us sometime, Sakura! You'd love it!"_

"_Okay!" Sakura replied happily. "We definitely have to! It's a promise, right?"_

"_Right!" Syaoran consented._

"_Then how about we go next time?" Syaoran's father asked. "The three of us; I'm looking forward to it."_

Then he had left for his trip, leaving behind a sick Syaoran and a disappointed Sakura with the promise that it would just have to wait another week or two before he could fulfill his promise. But now…now they would never go to the ruins together, just the three of them. Syaoran's father would never explain to them what everything meant as Sakura and Syaoran gazed around with wonder while drinking in every word he said. It was a promise that would never be fulfilled.

"There was a cave-in at the excavation site," Syaoran said, his eyes not meeting Sakura's. "Father was the only one in there, but…he didn't make it."

"I'm so sorry, Syaoran," Sakura murmured, rushing over to him. Ignoring her brother, she wrapped her arms around Syaoran, hugging him tightly. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Syaoran said, not moving. "You didn't even know about what had happened; please don't–"

"That's so like you, Syaoran," Sakura interrupted, tears falling down her cheeks. "You're always looking out for others even though it hurts. It's okay to cry when you need to cry; you can always rely on me."

"Princess…" Syaoran said softly, but it didn't seem like he knew what exactly to say.

Then, suddenly, tears were streaming down his face too. He put his hand to cheek, as if surprised by this, but Sakura gently put it back down to his side and held him tightly. "It's okay," she murmured softly. "I'm right here."

After another moment of staying like this, Syaoran gently pushed Sakura away. Wiping a hand across his eyes, he smiled at Sakura, though whether it was sad or thankful, or maybe both, she couldn't tell.

"Thank you, Sakura," Syaoran said gratefully. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Sakura scolded him half-heartedly. A pause. "What will you do now?"

Syaoran looked down at the ground thoughtfully before switching his gaze to Sakura again. "I'm going to work at the excavation site."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "But…"

"It was my father's dream to see the ruins," Syaoran explained quietly. "And it's my dream too. I'm going to fulfill it for the both of us."

Sakura stared at him for a long moment, then said the only thing that came to mind. "Good luck."

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**You know, they never did go into detail about how Syaoran's father died. Sooo, I decided to write it along with all the angst involved. }:D**

**In case you haven't realized it by now, my readers, I looooove writing angst, particularly angst involving deaths. I don't know why, but it's just so amazing and beautiful and…yeah. :P**

**Please review~**


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